Many shoppers want to support local economies, and “Buy American” has become a mantra to some; but, how easy is it to only purchase American-made products?
Reporters from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette conducted an experiment to see how hard it would be for a shopper to stick to buying U.S.-made goods and how much extra, if anything, that strategy would cost. They went to Target with a list of items to supply a fictitious family gathering, complete with paper plates, napkins, cups, cleaning supplies, invitations and a folding table.
They found a determined shopper would have to spend extra time and, in come cases, extra money to buy only American-made products. They noted it was much easier to find imported goods, and for 12 items—almost half of the shopping list—imported goods were the only options. Only five items had a sole U.S.-made option. The other eight items on the list offered a choice of buying foreign or American, but, in some cases, the U.S.-made version was much more expensive.
Additionally, they found trying to figure out the country of origin was sometimes difficult by looking at the package. In some cases, they couldn't figure it out at all.
They concluded with, “Of course, shoppers more dedicated to buying American could expand their search by visiting another store.”
That other store just may be a natural product store. Retailers may balk from the experiment done by the Post-Gazette because it was conducted in a box outlet, but they may want to conduct this trial in their stores. Could a shopper go “All-American” in your store?